Painting, 'Spooling', nine of sixteen by Wu Jun, watercolours on paper, Guangzhou, 1870-1890

Rectangular painting in cool tones depicting a central scene. It is bordered with blue ribbon. Two trees in the foreground obscure the work of two figures in the building, they wear pink. A second pair of figures, also in pink, approach on the left.

This painting is from an album depicting the silk industry. It shows a process known as 'spooling'in which workers wound silk threads rinsed in the river on to a hand-reel. A woman is drawing and guiding the thread coming from the skein frame with her left hand to check whether the thread has any knots or damage. With her right hand she rotates the hand-reel in a clockwise direction. The result is a thread with a slight twist.
One of sixteen paintings from a series numbered D.911 to 926-1901. Each sheet in the album depicting a different stage of the cultivation and manafacture of silk.
Purchased from Carl Langweil, accessioned in 1901. This acquisition information reflects that found in the Asia Department registers, as part of a 2022 provenance research project.

This painting is from an album depicting the silk industry. It shows a process known as 'spooling'in which workers wound silk threads rinsed in the river on to a hand-reel. Here you can see a woman drawing and guiding the thread coming from the skein frame with her left hand to check whether the thread has any knots or damage. With her right hand she rotates the hand-reel in a clockwise direction. The result is a thread with a slight twist.

D.919-1901